EDITOR’S NOTE: It is the policy of the Daily Telegraph not to identify victims of sexual assault. However, in the following story the victim allowed us to use her name in the hope it may inspire others to come forward.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For Jenefer Miller Crim, legislation that is pending in the West Virginia House of Delegates is far more than just another bill.
If House Bill 2605 becomes law, Crim will see a two-year process culminate in what to her has been a passionate, personal quest for justice.
In 2014, Crim’s perpetrator, David Miller, 54, of Premier, was found guilty of incest and sexual assault in McDowell County Circuit Court. The jury deliberated only 13 minutes before returning the verdict. Miller also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 1981 shotgun slaying of his father.
But what Crim learned during the criminal justice phase was that she had no means to bring a civil lawsuit to try to at least collect some damages for the “horrific” things she endured as a child.
West Virginia law only allows such a civil action two years from the occurrence or two years preceding the victim’s 18th birthday…